UE signal to interference power ratio detection for network scheduling assistance

ABSTRACT

Embodiments disclosed herein relate to techniques for measuring and/or detecting a signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) of a received signal at a user equipment (UE). The received signal may include a desired signal, co-channel interference, adjacent channel interference, and an in-band blocker. The UE may filter (e.g., remove) the various interferences and in-band blocker. The UE may determine or measure a power (or Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI)) of the desired signal and a power (or RSSI) of the co-channel interference separately because the desired signal and the co-channel interference overlap in frequency. To do so, the UE may determine a total power of the received signal including the desired signal and co-channel interference. The UE may receive the desired signal again while an uplink transmission is deactivated (and thus without the interference). The UE may then calculate the SIR based on the total power and the power of the desired signal.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to and benefit of U.S. application Ser.No. 17/504,237, filed on Oct. 18, 2021 and entitled “UE SIGNAL TOINTERFERENCE POWER RATIO DETECTION FOR NETWORK SCHEDULING ASSISTANCE,”and U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/248,046, filed Sep. 24, 2021,and entitled “UE SIGNAL TO INTERFERENCE POWER RATIO DETECTION FORNETWORK SCHEDULING ASSISTANCE,” each of which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communication, andmore specifically to improving wireless communication with a network.

A wireless communication network, such as a cellular network, maydetermine whether and/or how to schedule uplink and/or downlinkcommunication with user equipment based on an estimated interferencethat may exist when the user equipment operates on a certain frequencyband combination. However, this estimated interference (e.g., a maximumsensitivity degradation (MSD) value) may be a “worst case scenario,”such that, in at least some cases, the estimated interference may notactually exist. As such, the network may de-prioritize the userequipment, schedule the user equipment with lesser operatingcharacteristics, or even not schedule the user equipment altogether,even though the user equipment may not actually exhibit the estimatedinterference.

SUMMARY

A summary of certain embodiments disclosed herein is set forth below. Itshould be understood that these aspects are presented merely to providethe reader with a brief summary of these certain embodiments and thatthese aspects are not intended to limit the scope of this disclosure.Indeed, this disclosure may encompass a variety of aspects that may notbe set forth below.

In one embodiment, a method is presented that includes deactivating, byprocessing circuitry of user equipment, uplink transmissions. The methodalso includes receiving, at an antenna of the user equipment, a signal.The method also includes activating, by the processing circuitry, theuplink transmissions. The method also includes receiving, at theantenna, interference. The method also includes determining, by theprocessing circuitry, a signal-to-interference ratio based on the signaland the interference.

In another embodiment, one or more tangible, non-transitory,computer-readable media is presented. The media stores instructions thatcause one or more processors perform operations including receiving asignal having known symbols. The operations also include determining apower of a portion of the signal corresponding to the known symbols. Theoperations also include determining an interference power of the signalcorresponding to interference in the signal. The operations also includedetermining a signal-to-interference ratio based on the power of theportion of the signal corresponding to the known symbols and theinterference power.

In yet another embodiment, a communication system is presented. Thecommunication system includes a base station configured to configure afrequency band combination for user equipment. The base station is alsoconfigured to cause the user equipment to determine asignal-to-interference ratio for the frequency band combination. Thebase station is also configured to schedule operation of the userequipment based on the signal-to-interference ratio. The user equipmentis configured to determine the signal-to-interference ratio for thefrequency band combination and send an indication of thesignal-to-interference ratio to the base station.

Various refinements of the features noted above may exist in relation tovarious aspects of the present disclosure. Further features may also beincorporated in these various aspects as well. These refinements andadditional features may exist individually or in any combination. Forinstance, various features discussed below in relation to one or more ofthe illustrated embodiments may be incorporated into any of theabove-described aspects of the present disclosure alone or in anycombination. The brief summary presented above is intended only tofamiliarize the reader with certain aspects and contexts of embodimentsof the present disclosure without limitation to the claimed subjectmatter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various aspects of this disclosure may be better understood upon readingthe following detailed description and upon reference to the drawingsdescribed below in which like numerals refer to like parts.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of user equipment (e.g., an electronicdevice), according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the user equipment of FIG. 1 ,according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates a wireless signal received by the user equipment ofFIG. 1 including a target signal, noise, and interference.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a receiver of the user equipment ofFIG. 1 , according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a communication network supported byone or more base stations and including the user equipment of FIG. 1 ,according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of operations for separately determining the powerof the desired signal and the co-channel interference, according toembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a table depicting example parameters for determining whetherself-interference exists in the user equipment of FIG. 1 , according toembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of operations for estimating asignal-to-interference ratio (SIR) of the user equipment of FIG. 1 ,according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 depicts a plot illustrating a relationship between a ReferenceSignal Received Quality (RSRQ) and the signal-to-interference ratio(SIR) when interference power density is uniformly distributed over acarrier channel bandwidth, according to embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS

One or more specific embodiments will be described below. In an effortto provide a concise description of these embodiments, not all featuresof an actual implementation are described in the specification. Itshould be appreciated that in the development of any such actualimplementation, as in any engineering or design project, numerousimplementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve thedevelopers' specific goals, such as compliance with system-related andbusiness-related constraints, which may vary from one implementation toanother. Moreover, it should be appreciated that such a developmenteffort might be complex and time consuming, but would nevertheless be aroutine undertaking of design, fabrication, and manufacture for those ofordinary skill having the benefit of this disclosure.

When introducing elements of various embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the articles “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to mean thatthere are one or more of the elements. The terms “comprising,”“including,” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean thatthere may be additional elements other than the listed elements.Additionally, it should be understood that references to “oneembodiment” or “an embodiment” of the present disclosure are notintended to be interpreted as excluding the existence of additionalembodiments that also incorporate the recited features. Furthermore, theparticular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined inany suitable manner in one or more embodiments. Use of the terms“approximately,” “near,” “about,” “close to,” and/or “substantially”should be understood to mean including close to a target (e.g., design,value, amount), such as within a margin of any suitable orcontemplatable error (e.g., within 0.1% of a target, within 1% of atarget, within 5% of a target, within 10% of a target, within 25% of atarget, and so on). Moreover, it should be understood that any exactvalues, numbers, measurements, and so on, provided herein, arecontemplated to include approximations (e.g., within a margin ofsuitable or contemplatable error) of the exact values, numbers,measurements, and so on.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of user equipment 10 (e.g., an electronicdevice), according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The userequipment 10 may include, among other things, one or more processors 12(collectively referred to herein as a single processor for convenience,which may be implemented in any suitable form of processing circuitry),memory 14, nonvolatile storage 16, a display 18, input structures 22, aninput/output (I/O) interface 24, a network interface 26, and a powersource 29. The various functional blocks shown in FIG. 1 may includehardware elements (including circuitry), software elements (includingmachine-executable instructions) or a combination of both hardware andsoftware elements (which may be referred to as logic). The processor 12,memory 14, the nonvolatile storage 16, the display 18, the inputstructures 22, the input/output (I/O) interface 24, the networkinterface 26, and/or the power source 29 may each be communicativelycoupled directly or indirectly (e.g., through or via another component,a communication bus, a network) to one another to transmit and/orreceive data between one another. It should be noted that FIG. 1 ismerely one example of a particular implementation and is intended toillustrate the types of components that may be present in the userequipment 10.

By way of example, the user equipment 10 may include any suitablecomputing device, including user equipment, a desktop or notebookcomputer (e.g., in the form of a MacBook®, MacBook® Pro, MacBook Air®,iMac®, Mac® mini, or Mac Pro® available from Apple Inc. of Cupertino,California), a portable electronic or handheld electronic device such asa wireless electronic device or smartphone (e.g., in the form of a modelof an iPhone® available from Apple Inc. of Cupertino, California), atablet (e.g., in the form of a model of an iPad® available from AppleInc. of Cupertino, California), a wearable electronic device (e.g., inthe form of an Apple Watch® by Apple Inc. of Cupertino, California), andother similar devices. It should be noted that the processor 12 andother related items in FIG. 1 may be embodied wholly or in part assoftware, hardware, or both. Furthermore, the processor 12 and otherrelated items in FIG. 1 may be a single contained processing module ormay be incorporated wholly or partially within any of the other elementswithin the user equipment 10. The processor 12 may be implemented withany combination of general-purpose microprocessors, microcontrollers,digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate array (FPGAs),programmable logic devices (PLDs), controllers, state machines, gatedlogic, discrete hardware components, dedicated hardware finite statemachines, or any other suitable entities that may perform calculationsor other manipulations of information. The processors 12 may include oneor more application processors, one or more baseband processors, orboth, and perform the various functions described herein.

In the user equipment 10 of FIG. 1 , the processor 12 may be operablycoupled with a memory 14 and a nonvolatile storage 16 to perform variousalgorithms. Such programs or instructions executed by the processor 12may be stored in any suitable article of manufacture that includes oneor more tangible, computer-readable media. The tangible,computer-readable media may include the memory 14 and/or the nonvolatilestorage 16, individually or collectively, to store the instructions orroutines. The memory 14 and the nonvolatile storage 16 may include anysuitable articles of manufacture for storing data and executableinstructions, such as random-access memory, read-only memory, rewritableflash memory, hard drives, and optical discs. In addition, programs(e.g., an operating system) encoded on such a computer program productmay also include instructions that may be executed by the processor 12to enable the user equipment 10 to provide various functionalities.

In certain embodiments, the display 18 may facilitate users to viewimages generated on the user equipment 10. In some embodiments, thedisplay 18 may include a touch screen, which may facilitate userinteraction with a user interface of the user equipment 10. Furthermore,it should be appreciated that, in some embodiments, the display 18 mayinclude one or more liquid crystal displays (LCDs), light-emitting diode(LED) displays, organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays,active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) displays, or somecombination of these and/or other display technologies.

The input structures 22 of the user equipment 10 may enable a user tointeract with the user equipment 10 (e.g., pressing a button to increaseor decrease a volume level). The I/O interface 24 may enable userequipment 10 to interface with various other electronic devices, as maythe network interface 26. In some embodiments, the I/O interface 24 mayinclude an I/O port for a hardwired connection for charging and/orcontent manipulation using a standard connector and protocol, such asthe Lightning connector provided by Apple Inc. of Cupertino, California,a universal serial bus (USB), or other similar connector and protocol.The network interface 26 may include, for example, one or moreinterfaces for a personal area network (PAN), such as an ultra-wideband(UWB) or a BLUETOOTH® network, a local area network (LAN) or wirelesslocal area network (WLAN), such as a network employing one of the IEEE802.11x family of protocols (e.g., WI-FI®), and/or a wide area network(WAN), such as any standards related to the Third Generation PartnershipProject (3GPP), including, for example, a 3^(rd) generation (3G)cellular network, universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS),4^(th) generation (4G) cellular network, long term evolution (LTE®)cellular network, long term evolution license assisted access (LTE-LAA)cellular network, 5^(th) generation (5G) cellular network, and/or NewRadio (NR) cellular network, a satellite network, a non-terrestrialnetwork, and so on. In particular, the network interface 26 may include,for example, one or more interfaces for using a Release-15 cellularcommunication standard of the 5 G specifications that include themillimeter wave (mmWave) frequency range (e.g., 24.25-300 gigahertz(GHz)) and/or any other cellular communication standard release (e.g.,Release-16, Release-17, any future releases) that define and/or enablefrequency ranges used for wireless communication. The network interface26 of the user equipment 10 may allow communication over theaforementioned networks (e.g., 5 G, Wi-Fi, LTE-LAA, and so forth).

The network interface 26 may also include one or more interfaces for,for example, broadband fixed wireless access networks (e.g., WIMAX®),mobile broadband Wireless networks (mobile WIMAX®), asynchronous digitalsubscriber lines (e.g., ADSL, VDSL), digital videobroadcasting-terrestrial (DVB-T®) network and its extension DVB Handheld(DVB-H®) network, ultra-wideband (UWB) network, alternating current (AC)power lines, and so forth. The power source 29 of the user equipment 10may include any suitable source of power, such as a rechargeable lithiumpolymer (Li-poly) battery and/or an alternating current (AC) powerconverter.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the user equipment 10 of FIG. 1, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. As illustrated,the processor 12, the memory 14, the transceiver 30, a transmitter 52, areceiver 54, and/or antennas 55 (illustrated as 55A-55N, collectivelyreferred to as an antenna 55) may be communicatively coupled directly orindirectly (e.g., through or via another component, a communication bus,a network) to one another to transmit and/or receive data between oneanother.

The user equipment 10 may include the transmitter 52 and/or the receiver54 that respectively enable transmission and reception of data betweenthe user equipment 10 and an external device via, for example, a network(e.g., including base stations) or a direct connection. As illustrated,the transmitter 52 and the receiver 54 may be combined into thetransceiver 30. The user equipment 10 may also have one or more antennas55A-55N electrically coupled to the transceiver 30. The antennas 55A-55Nmay be configured in an omnidirectional or directional configuration, ina single-beam, dual-beam, or multi-beam arrangement, and so on. Eachantenna 55 may be associated with one or more beams and variousconfigurations. In some embodiments, multiple antennas of the antennas55A-55N (e.g., of an antenna group or module) may be communicativelycoupled a respective transceiver 30 and each emit radio frequencysignals that may constructively and/or destructively combine to form abeam. The user equipment 10 may include multiple transmitters, multiplereceivers, multiple transceivers, and/or multiple antennas as suitablefor various communication standards. In some embodiments, thetransmitter 52 and the receiver 54 may transmit and receive informationvia other wired or wireline systems or means.

As illustrated, the various components of the user equipment 10 may becoupled together by a bus system 56. The bus system 56 may include adata bus, for example, as well as a power bus, a control signal bus, anda status signal bus, in addition to the data bus. The components of theuser equipment 10 may be coupled together or accept or provide inputs toeach other using some other mechanism.

With this in mind, in wireless communication, a signal-to-noise ratio(or SNR) is a parameter that facilitates determining how well a wirelesssignal (e.g., received at the receiver 54) may be demodulated and howmuch data may be packed into a fixed channel bandwidth for a digitallymodulated signal. Additionally, noise that affects signal quality withrespect to demodulation may also include interference, so the parametermay include this interference and then be defined assignal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (or SINR). SINR is conceptuallyillustrated in FIG. 3 discussed below.

FIG. 3 illustrates a wireless signal 60 received by the user equipment10 including a target signal 62, noise 64, and interference 66, in thefrequency domain. In some cases, the interference 66 may at leastpartially overlap with (e.g., fall within; fall on top of) the signal 62(e.g., the desired or data signal), and as such may be referred to asco-channel interference. The interference 66 may be generated byexternal sources (e.g., external to the user equipment 10) or may beself-generated within the transceiver 30 (e.g., by one or more uplinkaggressors via various mechanisms in a frequency band combination, suchas uplink (e.g., UL) harmonics, inter-modulation between two uplinksignals (e.g., 2UL inter-modulation), cross-band interference due touplink and downlink band proximity, harmonic mixing, and so on).

“Uplink aggressor” may refer to wireless transmission by a transmitter52 of the user equipment 10, which may interfere (e.g., modulate) withwireless reception by the receiver 54 of the user equipment 10. Whilethe disclosure may refer to self-interference generated by an uplinkaggressor, it should be understood that, at least in some cases, theself-interference may be generated by a downlink aggressor (e.g., awireless reception by one or more receivers 54 of the user equipment 10)that may interfere (e.g., modulate) with wireless reception by thereceiver 54 of the user equipment 10. In 3GPP, the impact of theself-interference to a reference sensitivity (or REFSENS) degradation isdefined as the maximum sensitivity degradation (or MSD) in decibels(dB). The MSD may be a difference between the reference sensitivity andthe interference. That is, the MSD may indicate an increase intransmission power to apply to the downlink signal in order for it to bedemodulated (e.g., when there is interference affecting the downlinksignal). The delta or difference between the regular reference and theinterference is the MSD. REFSENS may be defined as a minimum receivedsignal power level which may be demodulated by the receiver 54 toachieve a certain percentage of data throughput under a particulardigital signal modulation scheme, such as quadrature phase shift keying(QPSK).

Depending on the carrier configurations and interference mechanism, theMSD value may range from low single digit dB (e.g., 2 dB) to 30+dB basedon the radio frequency (RF) front-end components' linearity andisolation performance. For certain frequency band combinations with anMSD above 20 dB, network operators may be concerned that such a highsensitivity degradation may not be sufficiently useful and thus restrictusage of those combinations in certain carrier configurations. Forexample, network operators may store (e.g., in a data structure, such asa table) frequency band combinations and associated MSD values as areference for carrier configuration scheduling decisions. If a frequencyband combination is associated with an MSD above 20 dB, the networkoperators may become less interested in configuring those frequency bandcombinations for the user equipment 10. That is, network operators maynot schedule any uplink and/or downlink communication for that userequipment 10.

However, the MSD values associated with various frequency bandconfigurations may be defined as a minimum requirement under aparticular worst-case test configuration. That is, the MSD values werenot intended to be used for network scheduling, nor as a criterion forwhether the frequency band combination may be configured or used for theuser equipment 10. In particular, and indeed in most cases, the userequipment 10 may perform better than the MSD values specified for aparticular frequency band combination (e.g., the MSD value specified mayrepresent a high tail value of the statistical distribution of UE MSDperformance), even for a same test configuration. Moreover, wheninterference is misaligned (e.g., the interfering frequency is notaligned with a frequency of the target signal 62) with a victim carrier(e.g., a victim downlink (DL) carrier), the MSD value may be reducedsubstantially. Also when uplink aggressor power (e.g., transmissionpower of the transmitter 52) is reduced, the MSD caused by second orderor higher interference may decrease faster than uplink power reduction.

As MSD for a frequency band combination may vary substantially, if thereis no SNR, SINR, or signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) detectionmechanism on the user equipment 10 side, then the communication networkmay simply assume (e.g., erroneously) that the user equipment 10 issubject to the MSD (e.g., a worst case MSD) as defined in aspecification (e.g., a 3GPP technical specification), and scheduling ofthe frequency band combination may become inefficient. In fact, in aworst case scenario, these frequency band combinations may never bescheduled for any user equipment 10 in any circumstance, even thoughtheir actual MSD performance may be much better than that defined (e.g.,specified) by the specification (under many operation scenarios).

The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the wireless signal 60 may refer to ameasure of a power level of the target signal 62 with reference to apower level of background noise. The signal-to-interference ratio (SIR)may refer to a measure of an average power of a received modulatedsignal 62 to a measure of an average power of the interference 66. Thesignal-to-noise-and-interference ratio (SNIR) (e.g.,signal-to-noise-plus-interference ratio) or SINR may refer to a measureof the power level of the target signal 62 with reference to a powerlevel of the interference and noise (e.g., a power of the interferenceplus a power of the noise). The disclosed embodiments enable the userequipment 10 to determine, detect, and/or measure SIR for a frequencyband combination (under many or all operating conditions). The userequipment 10 may report (e.g., transmit) the SIR to the communicationnetwork to assist in scheduling the frequency band combination.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a receiver 54 of the user equipment(UE) 10 of FIG. 1 , according to embodiments of the present disclosure.As illustrated, the receiver 54 includes an antenna 70, a band-passfilter (BPF) 72, a low noise amplifier (LNA) 74, a mixer 76, a low passfilter (LPF) 80, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 82, a digitalchannel selection filter 84, and a power detector 86. In someembodiments, the antenna 70 of the receiver may be representative of theantennas 55 of the user equipment 10 of FIG. 2 . In some embodiments,the antenna 70 may be a separate and additional antenna of the userequipment 10.

The antenna 70 of the receiver 54 may receive a received signal 90,which may include a desired or wanted signal 92 (which may have a centerradio frequency 94 of f_(RF)), along with undesired interference ornoise, such as adjacent channel interference 96, co-channel interference98, and an in-band blocker 100. In some cases, the received signal 90may also include an out-of-band blocker (not shown). The received signal90 is passed through various components of the receiver 54 to remove (orreduce) the out-of-band blocker, the in-band blocker 100, and/oradjacent channel interference 96.

For example, the received signal 90 is passed through the band-passfilter 72 (BPF) which may filter undesired frequencies or frequencybands from the received signal 90, and then through the LNA 74 which mayamplify the band-pass filtered signal. The amplified signal may bemixed, using the mixer 76, with a local oscillation signal provided by alocal oscillator 78 (LO), and then be passed through the LPF 80. Thesignal output by the LPF 80 (e.g., a post-LPF signal 102) may includedecreased amplitudes with respect to the adjacent channel interference96 and/or the in-band blocker 100, as illustrated, so that the ADC 82may have sufficient dynamic range to convert the post-LPF signal 102.The ADC 82 may then convert the signal to a digital format, and thedigital signal may then be input to the digital channel selection filter84, which may be implemented as a finite impulse response (FIR) filter.The digital channel selection filter 84 may filter the remainingadjacent channel interference 96 and/or in-band blocker 100 from thepost-LPF signal 102, resulting in an output signal with the desiredsignal 92 and the co-channel interference 98 remaining.

The power detector 86 may determine or measure a power (or ReceivedSignal Strength Indicator (RSSI)) of the signal output by the digitalchannel selection filter 84, including the desired signal 92 and theco-channel interference 98. That is, the power detector 86 may determineor measure a total power (or RSSI) of the desired signal 92 and theco-channel interference 98, combined (if both are present). To determineor measure a signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) of the received signal90, the power detector 86 may determine or measure a power (or RSSI) ofthe desired signal 92 (e.g., at the antenna 55), and separately (e.g.,independently) determine or measure a power (or RSSI) of the co-channelinterference 98 (e.g., at the antenna 55), which may then enable theprocessor 12 of the user equipment 10 to determine the SIR of thereceived signal 90 based on the power of the desired signal 92 and thepower of the co-channel interference 98. Advantageously, the powerdetector 86 can measure or determine the power (or RSSI) of the desiredsignal 92 separately from the power (or RSSI) of the co-channelinterference 98. In this way, the user equipment 10 can compute the SIRof the received signal 90 and report the SIR to the communicationnetwork to facilitate scheduling of the frequency band combination.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram 110 of a wireless communication network112 supported by one or more base stations 114 and including the userequipment 10 of FIG. 1 , according to embodiments of the presentdisclosure. In particular, the one or more base stations 114 may includeEvolved NodeB (eNodeB) base stations and may provide 4 G/LTE coveragevia the wireless communication network 112 to the user equipment 10. Insome embodiments, the one or more base stations 114 may include NextGeneration NodeB (gNodeB or gNB) base stations and may provide 5 G/NewRadio (NR) coverage via the wireless communication network 112 to theuser equipment 10. Each of the user equipment 10 and the one or morebase stations 114 may include at least some of the components of theelectronic device 10 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 , including one or moreprocessors 12, the memory 14, the storage 16, the transmitter 52, thereceiver 54, and the associated circuitry shown in FIG. 4 . It should beunderstood that while the present disclosure may use 4 G/LTE as anexample specification or standard, the embodiments disclosed herein mayapply to other suitable specifications or standards (e.g., such as the 5G/NR specification).

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of operations 150 for separately determining thepower of the desired signal and the co-channel interference. The userequipment (UE) 10 may request to establish communication on a network112 (e.g., a cellular network, such as a 4G/LTE or 5 G/NR network). Thenetwork 112 may be implemented as at least one communication hub or basestation, such as the base stations 114 (e.g., an eNodeB or gNodeB)discussed with respect to FIG. 5 . The operations 150 begin at operation154, where the network 112 may configure a frequency band combinationfor the UE 10. The frequency band combination may include any suitablecombination of frequency bands for uplink and/or downlink, as well asany suitable frequency bands (e.g., Evolved Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access (EUTRA)/NRbands 20, n8, and so on).

At operation 156, the network 112 may determine if there is potentialinterference (e.g., self-interference, such as intermodulation) thatwould occur between the frequency bands if the UE 10 were to operate(e.g., perform downlink or uplink operations) on the frequency bands.For example, for a 2-frequency band combination, the network 112 maydetermine whether there is potential interference based on the followingequations and the table 200 shown in FIG. 7 :

$\begin{matrix}{f_{INT} = {{a \times f_{TX1}} + {b \times f_{RX1}} + {c \times f_{TX2}} + {d \times f_{RX2}}}} & ( {{Equation}1} )\end{matrix}$ $\begin{matrix}{{BW}_{INT} = {{{❘a❘} \times {CB}W_{TX1}} + {{❘c❘} \times {CB}W_{TX2}}}} & ( {{Equation}2} )\end{matrix}$ $\begin{matrix}{{❘f_{INT}❘} < \frac{{BW_{INT}} + {CBW_{RX1}}}{2}} & ( {{Equation}3} )\end{matrix}$ $\begin{matrix}{{❘f_{INT}❘} < \frac{{BW_{INT}} + {CBW_{RX2}}}{2}} & ( {{Equation}4} )\end{matrix}$

where, assuming the interference is limited to up to 5^(th) order mixingproducts:

-   -   “a” is an integer with a range between −5 and +5;    -   “b” is either −1, 0, or +1;    -   “c” is an integer with a range between −5 and +5;    -   “d” is either −1, 0, or +1;    -   f_(INT) is the interference center frequency after receiver        frequency down conversion;    -   BW_(INT) is the effective bandwidth (BW) of the interference        (INT);    -   CBW_(Tx1) is the uplink carrier channel BW for component        carrier (CC) 1;    -   CBW is a channel bandwidth;    -   CBW_(TX2) is the uplink carrier channel BW for CC2;    -   CBW_(RX1) is the downlink carrier channel BW for CC1; and    -   CBW_(RX2) is the downlink carrier channel BW for CC2.

The table 200 and the Equations (1)-(4) above may be used by the network112 to determine an uplink carrier frequency and a downlink carrierfrequency for a particular band configuration. Based on the uplinkand/or downlink carrier frequencies, the network 112 may determinewhether there is interference generated from the uplink side that wouldaffect (e.g., fall onto) the downlink carrier. The network may determinesome of the coefficients 204, 206 for the uplink and downlink,respectively, for each band combination prior to configuring the UE 10for the band combination. The network 112 may use Equations (3) and (4)to determine when the co-channel interference is overlapping thedownlink carrier channel for CC1 and CC2, respectively. For example, ifEquation (3) is true, the interference overlaps (e.g., falls within) thedownlink carrier channel BW for component carrier 1. Similarly, ifEquation (4) is true, the interference overlaps the downlink carrierchannel BW for component carrier 2.

As shown in the table 200, the network may also determine aninterference type 212, such as intermodulation (IMD) interference orharmonic interference. The coefficients 204, 206 may be related to thetype of interference type 212. The network may also determine a harmonicorder 208 of the interference. Advantageously, the information in thetable 200 may be determined by the network before configuring the UE 10for a particular frequency band combination.

If the inequality of Equation 3 is met, then there is potentialinterference impacting downlink carrier 1. If the inequality of Equation4 is met, then there is potential interference impacting downlinkcarrier 2. Turning back to FIG. 6 , if there is no potentialinterference at operation 156, then the network 112 may scheduleoperation of the UE 10 on the combination of frequency bands atoperation 158. If the network 112 determines there is potentialinterference impacting downlink carrier 1, downlink carrier 2, or both,then the network 112 determines the SIR for downlink carrier 1, downlinkcarrier 2, or both. In particular, the network 112 sends an instructionto the UE 10 to deactivate uplink transmissions at operation 160.

At operation 162, the UE 10 deactivates uplink transmissions. In someembodiments, the UE 10 may deactivate uplink transmissions that arecross-band with or may affect operation on the frequency bandcombination, while, in other embodiments, the UE 10 may deactivate alluplink transmissions. At operation 164, the network 112 then sends atest signal to the UE 10 (e.g., on downlink carrier 1, downlink carrier2, or both). The test signal may mimic or copy a “real” signal or asignal that would typically be sent to the UE 10 from the network 112using the frequency band combination. Because at least cross-band uplinktransmissions are deactivated on the UE 10, at operation 166, the UE 10may receive the test signal without interference (e.g., at leastself-interference caused by uplink transmissions or aggressors ordownlink receptions or aggressors).

At operation 168, the UE 10 then determines (e.g., using the powerdetector) a power or RSSI of the test signal (e.g., on downlink carrier1, downlink carrier 2, or both). At operation 170, the network 112 thensends an instruction to the UE 10 to activate uplink transmissions(e.g., the uplink aggressors) that may cause the self-interference(e.g., self-generated), and the UE 10 activates uplink transmissions atoperation 172. While the disclosure may refer to activating uplinktransmissions, it should be understood that, at least in some cases, theinstruction to the UE 10 may additionally or alternatively includeactivating downlink receptions (e.g., downlink aggressors) that maycause the self-interference.

At operation 174, the network 112 stops sending the test signal. Becausethe UE 10 is performing uplink transmissions, and no signals arereceived by the UE 10, the UE 10 on the frequency band combination, theUE 10 is effectively receiving the interference without the test signalat its antenna 55. At operation 176, the UE 10 then determines (e.g.,using the power detector) a power or RSSI of the interference (e.g., ondownlink carrier 1, downlink carrier 2, or both). At operation 178, theUE 10 (e.g., the processor 12 of the UE 10) determines the SIR based onthe power of the test signal and the power of the interference (e.g., bydividing the power of the test signal by the power of the interference),and sends the SIR to the network 112. At operation 180, the network 112may determine whether the SIR is acceptable. For example, the network112 may compare the SIR to a threshold value. If the SIR is acceptable(e.g., greater than the threshold value), then the network 112 mayschedule operation of the UE 10 on the combination of frequency bands atoperation 158. If not, then the network 112 may perform one or moremitigation actions at operation 182.

In some cases, at least some of the interference (e.g., co-channelinterference) may not be self-generated and may come from externalinterfering sources. As such, in some embodiments, this interference maybe determined or measured during an idle mode (e.g., when the UE is notperforming downlink or uplink operations) while the UE 10 is configuredto the carrier frequencies for the frequency band combination, asinstructed by the network 112.

In additional or alternative embodiments, when the network 112determines, at operation 156, there is an interference impact to eitherdownlink carrier 1, downlink carrier 2 or both, the network 112 maycause the UE 10 to determine the SIR for downlink carrier 1, downlinkcarrier 2, or both, as shown in the flowchart 220 of FIG. 8 . Inparticular, the network 112 may send a SIR estimation signal to the UE10 at operation 226. The SIR estimation signal may have symbols known(e.g., that are pre-determined and/or may be standardized) by the UE 10.Statistical properties of the SIR estimation signal may mimic a typicaldownlink signal. At operation 228, the UE 10 receives a received signalthat includes the SIR estimation signal, as well as any interferencethat may be received at the antenna 55. The network 112 may cause the UE10 to activate uplink transmissions (e.g., the uplink aggressors thatmay cause the self-interference) via sending an instruction to do so atoperations 222 and 224. Additionally or alternatively, the network 112may cause the UE 10 to activate downlink transmissions (e.g., thedownlink aggressors that may cause the self-interference).

At operation 230, the UE 10 then determines the power (e.g., RSSI) ofthe received signal (e.g., using the power detector). In someembodiments, the power may be detected after executing channelequalization. At operation 232, the UE 10 (e.g., the processor 12 of theUE 10) determines the power of the SIR estimation signal bycross-correlating the received signal with the known symbols in the SIRestimation signal. In particular, the UE 10 may determine a measure ofassociation and/or similarity between the received signal and the knownsymbols in the SIR estimation signal by performing thecross-correlation. In some cases, the cross-correlation may generate anadditional signal that the UE 10 uses to determine the power of the SIRestimation signal.

At operation 234, the UE 10 (e.g., the processor 12 of the UE 10)determines the power of the interference by removing the SIR estimationsignal from the received signal. At operation 236, the UE 10 (e.g., theprocessor 12 of the UE 10) determines the SIR based on the power of thetest signal and the power of the interference (e.g., by dividing thepower of the test signal by the power of the interference), and sendsthe SIR to the network 112. At operation 238, the network 112 may thendetermine whether the SIR is acceptable.

In any of the disclosed embodiments, the network 112 may periodicallycheck on SIR performance. Advantageously with the embodiment describedin FIG. 8 , with the UE 10 being aware of the SIR estimation schedule,the network 112 may seamlessly transition between downlink datatransmission and sending a SIR estimation downlink signal. That is,transitioning between uplink and downlink operations to determine SIRperformance, as shown in FIG. 6 , may be avoided. Moreover, during theSIR estimation procedure, the UE 10 may continue transmitting data andperforming uplink procedures (e.g., to the network 112) as there is nota time where uplink transmissions is stopped (even temporarily). Thatis, the SIR estimation procedure of FIG. 8 does not interrupt UE 10uplink transmission. In cases where the UE 10 may not have uplinkprocedures to perform, the UE 10 may transmit pseudo-random data, forexample. Additionally, external noise and/or interference may beestimated by pausing uplink transmission during the estimationprocedure. Any of the embodiments disclosed herein may be applied to asingle frequency division duplex band to determine how much uplinktransmission impact is present at various uplink configurations to adownlink carrier under a full-duplex operation.

As mentioned in both FIGS. 5 and 7 , if the SIR is acceptable fordownlink signal demodulation (e.g., greater than a threshold value), forexample at operations 180, 218, the network 112 may schedule normaloperation for the frequency band combination. Moreover, if the SIR meetsa (higher) performance threshold, the network 112 may increasethroughput or a modulation order of transmissions or receptions. Forexample, the network 112 may increase the modulation order from QPSK toa higher modulation order, such as 8 quadrature amplitude modulation(QAM), 16 QAM, 32 QAM, 64 QAM, 128 QAM, 256 QAM, and so on. In caseswhere the SIR is unacceptable for downlink signal demodulation (e.g.,less than or equal to a threshold value), the network 112 may perform amitigation action at operations 182, 240. The mitigation action mayinclude downgrading transmission or reception of data, such as by onlyscheduling a master cell group in a dual-connectivity (DC) combination,only scheduling a primary cell (PCell) operation in a carrieraggregation (CA) combination, disabling secondary cell (SCell) uplinktransmission in a 2-uplink (2UL) CA combination, disabling SCelldownlink reception if it is impacted by either PCell uplink or bothPCell and SCell uplink intermodulation product, or even not schedulingany operation for the UE 10.

In some embodiments, Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) and/orReference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) values or measurement, asimplemented or defined in the LTE and/or NR specifications, may be usedas a signal quality indicator to assist network scheduling. That is, theSIR value or measurement, as discussed above, is a more direct oraccurate indication of MSD caused by uplink interference as compared toRSRP and/or RSRQ. However, at least in some cases, the RSRP and/or theRSRQ may be used by the network 112 as an estimate or approximation ofthe SIR value. Indeed, FIG. 9 is a plot 250 illustrating a relationshipbetween RSRQ 252 and SIR 254 when interference power density isuniformly distributed over a carrier channel bandwidth (e.g., most orall of the carrier channel bandwidth). Additionally, the RSRQmeasurement may be combined with activating/deactivating uplinktransmission to isolate interference from the external noise and/orinterference. For example, either of the methods shown in FIG. 6 or 8may be performed, where RSRP and/or RSRQ is substituted for the SIRvalue.

As an example, the network 112 may instruct the UE 10 to deactivateuplink transmissions, resulting in the UE 10 deactivating the uplinktransmissions, and send a signal (e.g., a test signal) to be received atan antenna 55 of the UE 10. The UE 10 may determine an RSRP and/or anRSRQ (and/or an RSSI) of the signal. The network 112 may then instructthe UE 10 to activate the uplink transmissions, resulting in the UE 10activating the uplink transmissions. The UE 10 may receive, at theantenna 55 of the UE 10, interference (e.g., self-interference caused byuplink and/or downlink aggressors of the UE 10), and determine an RSSI(and/or RSRP and/or RSRQ) of the interference. The UE 10 may then sendthe indication of the RSSI (and/or RSRP and/or RSRQ) of the interferenceto the network 112. The network 112 may then schedule operation of theUE 10 and/or perform mitigation procedures based on the RSSI (and/orRSRP and/or RSRQ) (e.g., based on a threshold comparison as previouslydescribed).

The specific embodiments described above have been shown by way ofexample, and it should be understood that these embodiments may besusceptible to various modifications and alternative forms. It should befurther understood that the claims are not intended to be limited to theparticular forms disclosed, but rather to cover all modifications,equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope ofthis disclosure.

The techniques presented and claimed herein are referenced and appliedto material objects and concrete examples of a practical nature thatdemonstrably improve the present technical field and, as such, are notabstract, intangible or purely theoretical. Further, if any claimsappended to the end of this specification contain one or more elementsdesignated as “means for [perform]ing [a function] . . . ” or “step for[perform]ing [a function] . . . ,” it is intended that such elements areto be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f). However, for any claimscontaining elements designated in any other manner, it is intended thatsuch elements are not to be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f).

It is well understood that the use of personally identifiableinformation should follow privacy policies and practices that aregenerally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or governmentalrequirements for maintaining the privacy of users. In particular,personally identifiable information data should be managed and handledso as to minimize risks of unintentional or unauthorized access or use,and the nature of authorized use should be clearly indicated to users.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: configuring, via processingcircuitry of a base station, a frequency band combination for userequipment; causing, via a transmitter of the base station, the userequipment to deactivate uplink transmission based on potentialinterference associated with the frequency band combination;transmitting, via the transmitter, an indication of the frequency bandcombination to the user equipment; causing, via the transmitter, theuser equipment to determine a power of a test signal while the uplinktransmission of the user equipment is deactivated; receiving, via areceiver of the base station, an indication of a signal-to-interferenceratio associated with the frequency band combination from the userequipment; and scheduling the user equipment using the frequency bandcombination based on the signal-to-interference ratio.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the frequency band combination comprises an uplinkfrequency band, a downlink frequency band, or both.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the signal-to-interference ratio is based on uplinkinterference causing degradation on a downlink carrier.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, comprising determining, via the processing circuitry, whetherthe signal-to-interference ratio exceeds a threshold value.
 5. Themethod of claim 4, comprising increasing, via the processing circuitry,throughput or modulation order of transmissions associated with thefrequency band combination, receptions associated with the frequencyband combination, or both based on the signal-to-interference ratioexceeding the threshold value.
 6. The method of claim 4, performing, viathe processing circuitry, one or more mitigation actions based on thesignal-to-interference ratio not exceeding the threshold value.
 7. Themethod of claim 6, wherein the one or more mitigation actions comprisedowngrading transmission data, downgrading reception data, or both byonly scheduling a master cell group in a dual-connectivity combination,only scheduling a primary cell operation in a carrier aggregationcombination, disabling secondary cell uplink transmission in a 2-uplinkcarrier aggregation combination, disabling secondary cell downlinkreception, or any combination thereof.
 8. The method of claim 1,comprising transmitting, via the transmitter, a signal to the userequipment, the user equipment configured to determine thesignal-to-interference ratio based on a power and a quality of thesignal.
 9. A base station, comprising: a transmitter; a receiver; andprocessing circuitry coupled to the transmitter and the receiver, theprocessing circuitry configured to establish a frequency bandcombination for user equipment, cause, using the transmitter, the userequipment to deactivate uplink transmission based on potentialinterference with the frequency band combination, transmit a test signalbased on the frequency band combination, the test signal configured tocause the user equipment to determine a power of the test signal whilethe uplink transmission of the user equipment is deactivated, cause,using the transmitter, the user equipment to determine asignal-to-interference ratio associated with the test signal, andreceive, via the receiver, an indication of the signal-to-interferenceratio from the user equipment.
 10. The base station of claim 9, whereinthe processing circuitry is configured to schedule, using thetransmitter, the user equipment using the frequency band combinationbased on the signal-to-interference ratio.
 11. The base station of claim9, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to perform amitigation action based on the signal-to-interference ratio.
 12. Thebase station of claim 11, wherein the processing circuitry is configuredto perform the mitigation action based on the signal-to-interferenceratio failing to exceed a threshold value.
 13. The base station of claim9, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to determine aninterference type of the potential interference, the interference typecomprising an intermodulation interference or a harmonic interference.14. The base station of claim 9, wherein the processing circuitry isconfigured to increase throughput or modulation order of transmissionsassociated with the frequency band combination, receptions associatedwith the frequency band combination, or both based on thesignal-to-interference ratio.
 15. The base station of claim 14, whereinthe processing circuitry is configured to increase the throughput or themodulation order of the transmissions, the receptions, or both based onthe signal-to-interference ratio exceeding a threshold value.
 16. One ormore tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media, storinginstructions that cause one or more processors of a base station to:configure a frequency band combination; cause user equipment to activateuplink transmission based on potential interference associated with thefrequency band combination; send, via a transmitter, asignal-to-interference ratio estimation signal to the user equipment;receive, from the user equipment, an indication of asignal-to-interference ratio associated with the frequency bandcombination based on the signal-to-interference ratio estimation signal;and perform mitigation action based on the signal-to-interference ratio.17. The one or more tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable media ofclaim 16, wherein receiving the signal-to-interference ratio estimationsignal causes the user equipment to determine the signal-to-interferenceratio based on a power of a portion of the signal-to-interference ratioestimation signal corresponding to known symbols and interference powerof the signal-to-interference ratio estimation signal corresponding tointerference in the signal.
 18. The one or more tangible,non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 17, wherein thesignal-to-interference ratio is based on an interference associated withthe signal-to-interference ratio estimation signal caused by uplinktransmission.
 19. The one or more tangible, non-transitory,computer-readable media of claim 16, wherein the instructions that causethe one or more processors to perform the mitigation action comprisedowngrading transmission data, downgrading reception data, or both byonly scheduling a master cell group in a dual-connectivity combination,only scheduling a primary cell operation in a carrier aggregationcombination, disabling secondary cell uplink transmission in a 2-uplinkcarrier aggregation combination, disabling secondary cell downlinkreception, or any combination thereof.
 20. The one or more tangible,non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 16, wherein thesignal-to-interference ratio estimation signal is configured to mimicproperties of a downlink signal.